What's happening?
Foundation
Time flies by when you’re having fun; we are already halfway through the term! We are so amazed to see the lovely Foundation students so settled into school life. Please check your child's satchel next week, as we will be sending reader covers home. Inside you will find decodable readers, tips on how to best support your child when reading, home reading log, and which sporting house your child is in. Please ensure you regularly check your child’s reader folder, as we will send home list words and weird words incrementally throughout the term for students to practise.
Decodable books will be sent home each week. Class teachers will conference with each student at least once a fortnight during the first 15 minutes of the day. Readers are changed once a week. Please remember to record all books in the yellow reading log. We encourage you to have your child reread their books several times to assist with fluency and comprehension and, importantly, build their confidence. Additional helpful hints will be in their readers.
Just a friendly reminder, we ask that parents and guardians refrain from entering the classroom. We will be beginning conferencing from next week and we only have minimal time with each student.
Literacy:
Students have been learning the sound codes ‘o, d, g, l’ and reviewing the previously learnt codes. We have now finished learning 12 letters. WOW! Students are continuing to develop their word reading and writing skills each week through repetition and various engaging activities.
Maths:
This week, students will have finished their ‘Place value’ unit and have been learning to read, write and make numbers to 10. Next week, we will be starting our fluid maths groups within the topic of ‘Time’. We know the students will do an amazing job in their group and continue to have their needs supported.
Social skills:
Last week, we continued exploring our ‘Super Six’ School Values, with a focus on ‘Respect’. This week, students have been learning about ‘Resilience’, which will be the value focused on for our assembly values award.
Last week the Grade 6 Buddies organised a Pirate Treasure Hunt! Our students loved making a pirate hat and then following the map to find their treasure.
This is a reminder that Foundation students will attend full-time from Monday 3rd March (next week).
Grade 1
Over the next few weeks in Writing, the students will be diving into Recounts and will be introduced to the concept of "What a Good One Looks Like" (WAGOLL). To spark creativity, they explored our beautiful vegetable garden, immersing themselves in its sights, textures, and aromas. They all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and returned to class full of excitement, eager to write vivid descriptions of what they saw using adjectives.
In Word Study, we're focusing on the "ed" suffix, and learning about its three distinct sounds - /id/ /d/ /t/. We will continue our practise of this code into next week.
In Maths, we’re continuing our exploration of Numeration, working on counting, sequencing, and place value. Hands-on materials are playing an important role in helping students grasp these concepts effectively.
For Inquiry, we have begun looking at our immediate and extended family, with students working towards creating a family tree next week. We’re also very excited for our upcoming incursion on March 11th, "Toys Over Time," where students will explore the evolution of toys, both old and new. If you have not already done so, please be sure to consent and pay for the incursion via Compass.
The students have been doing an excellent job developing their daily reading routines, both at home and in the classroom. Thank you for your support with this and the uptake of ‘word study’ practise pages at home. Please keep an eye out for the next page which covers the suffix ‘ed’, and will be our focus for weeks 5 and 6.
For those who are able, we’d love your support listening to students read in the classrooms. Sign-up sheets have been stuck outside your child’s classroom, and will outline which day and times reading helpers are welcome to assist in each class.
Grade 2
We’d like to congratulate our Grade 2 students on their terrific effort and behaviour during their swimming lessons this week and thank parents for your support with the program!
Literacy: In Writing, students have continued to learn about the features and structure of Information Reports. They were busy last week researching an animal and this week have been writing their reports with the inclusion of a title, subheadings, descriptive paragraphs and a conclusion.
During our PhOrMeS/Word Study lessons students have been learning to read and spell words pertaining to the ‘silent final E rules’. Last week we learnt about job number 1 which is the ‘Silent Final e’ changes the short vowel and makes it long. The e jumps over the consonant to make the short vowel long. This week we have been learning about job 2 which is the letters v and u never go at the end of a word. The SFE goes at the end to stop v and u from going at the end (ve and ue).
Students have also been learning to apply their knowledge from our ‘Grammar Project’ lessons to identify the four sentence types; statements, questions, commands and exclamations.
Maths: In Maths over the last fortnight, we have been investigating our data topic. Students have been learning how to pose relevant questions, gather data using tally marks and display it in a pictograph and bar graph. They have then had a go at interpreting the data and making relevant statements about the findings.
Inquiry: As part of our Inquiry topic, ‘Animals and their Habitats’, students have been identifying how an environment helps different animals survive in it.
Wellbeing: This fortnight our wellbeing and social skills focus is on Respect and Resilience.
Reminders: On Wednesday 19th March, we will be heading on an excursion to Moonlit Sanctuary. Please ensure you have read all the information on the notice (sent out via Compass) and consented/paid.
Thank you for your support with homework: Regular reading aloud. Optional online extras: ‘Nessy Reading and Spelling’ and ‘Sunset/Jetpack Maths’ (Essential Assessment).
Grade 3
Reading/Inquiry: This fortnight, students have been learning all about Earth’s natural resources, developing their knowledge and vocabulary in relation to the following important concepts: fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas), alternative energy sources (solar, wind), renewable versus non-renewable, deforestation, and sustainability. We have also focused on the reading strategies of visualising and questioning (before, during and after reading) to help better understand the text.
Reminder: Please encourage your child to read daily and help them to record this in their diary (parent to sign at the end of the week). Diaries are checked by their classroom teacher every Friday and house points are given.
Writing: Students are currently building their skills with persuasive writing, focusing on structure, and presenting quality arguments backed up with supporting details to support their opinions. In our grammar and syntax lessons, we have explored the different types of sentences and practised writing statement, command, question, and exclamation sentences with the correct punctuation.
Word Study: We have been reviewing the 1-1-1 doubling rule, silent-final-e plus suffix, ie versus ei, using ti ci or si when adding a suffix, as well as reading and spelling a range of homophones and ‘weird words’.
Maths: We completed our ‘Addition and Subtraction’ topic last week and began our ‘Time’ topic this week. Students have been using formal units of time to estimate the duration of events, use the start/stop function on a digital device to time the duration of events or activities, and set, read and record time with accuracy to the minute and/or second using a digital device.
Wellbeing/Values: Our whole school focus this week has been on our Super Six Values of ‘Respect’ and ‘Resilience’.
NAPLAN: Grade 3 students will have a session next week to familiarise them with the NAPLAN online platform. Information regarding dates and headphones will be posted to Compass.
Grade 4
We can’t believe we are almost half way through Term 1! This year is already flying by! The students have been participating in their swimming program at Mentone. We are so far impressed with the organisation, speed and respect the students are displaying at the pool.
Students have also completed their ‘Passion Project’ presentations and we were blown away with the effort and preparation that they were able to display to their peers. Well done to all Grade 4s!
Literacy: Information reports are our focus this term. Students have completed a cold write which has highlighted the areas in which we are going to focus on with them. We are looking forward to researching explorers, creating structurally organised and engaging information reports this term.
Our ‘Into the Unknown’ unit has been a great way to start our reading, fluency and comprehension program as the kids are able to be fully immersed into the European explorers of the time.
Numeracy: Our first big topic of the year has been ‘Addition and Subtraction’. Using the mathematical language of renaming, regrouping and finding differences, students are able to add and subtract numbers with the help of estimating and rounding. Our next topic will be Multiplication and Division - we really encourage the students to be practising their times table facts.
Reminders: Please ensure your child is bringing their diary with them each day, and recording their reading each night. Students can also complete ‘Splash Learn’ Maths tasks at home using their unique log in code.
Grade 5
A fantastic excursion to Twisted Science yesterday allowed the students to further develop their understanding of the ‘Scientific Method’, which is part of our Inquiry Topic - Why is it so? All Grade 5 students behaved respectfully at the venue and we are very proud of them. A massive thank you to our parent helpers on the day - Carissa, Jo, Luke, Megan, Louise and Jacqui.
Literacy:
We have completed our first mentor text - George’s Marvellous Medicine. Students worked on inference and summarising skills. Over the coming weeks we are completing different readings that line up with our Inquiry topic. This week - different types of energy! In writing, we completed Narratives and are now furthering our persuasive writing skills.
Maths:
This week we finished up our Whole Numbers topic. Students continued to learn and practise skills such as finding factors (and the highest common factor), multiples (and finding the lowest common multiple), plus strategies to assist with finding out if a number is a prime or composite number. Next week our groups will change, and we start our Multiplication and Division topic.
Finally..
Headphones (corded) are due. Please send along a pair in a small, named bag. These are needed for our practise Naplan sessions, then for the official NAPLAN 2-week period beginning after Labour Day.
Congratulations to all the students who participated in school swimming events this week. We are super proud of their achievements, and very happy with the feedback we have received regarding their positive behaviour and wonderful sportsmanship. Those progressing onto the next stage (Wednesday 12th) will do NAPLAN catch up on Friday 14th.
Grade 6
Grade 6's have been working very hard to settle into a routine in Term 1. All grades have been working diligently to read through Treasure Island, with a key focus on figurative language, conjunctions and providing evidence in their written responses.
Maths groups have been busy learning about integers, as well as learning the order of operations. We have been very impressed with their number facts and how quickly they are learning new material.
We also want to note that Interschool Sport has been a huge success so far. Student have been demonstrating excellent sportsmanship and teamwork skills in their summer sports. Lets keep up the great work!